International trade consulting
Most advisers see a single slice of a consignment and optimise it in isolation — the lawyer, the accountant, the freight broker. We take the whole flow: the money, the process, the documents, the sourcing and the schedule, and make the parts agree with each other.
The difference
Most trade consultants come from freight forwarding or customs broking. They can move a box. Fewer can build a costing model, read a letter of credit before a bank rejects it, or tell you where your working capital is trapped.
Our practice was built the other way round — from nearly three years inside a bank's foreign exchange operation, on the due diligence and documentation side, and from valuation and feasibility work before that. That is the view from the desk that rejects documents rather than the one that submits them.
Behind that sits a company that actually trades. The processes we document are ones we run ourselves, on our own consignments, with our own money at risk.
Who we work with
| Scale | Companies moving more than 50 containers a year. Below that, a trade function is usually better run by its owner than advised on |
| Overseas importers | Sourcing from India, and needing a counterpart whose interests are not on the other side of the invoice |
| Indian exporters | Whose trade desk has outgrown the way it was originally set up, and who are losing margin or time somewhere they cannot locate |
| Indian importers | Bringing goods in, where the same disciplines apply in reverse — landed cost, documentation, payment structuring and qualifying suppliers abroad |
| Not for | Companies with a functioning in-house trade compliance team, or questions that are purely legal or purely tax |
What we advise on
Engagements usually cross all three. They are separated here because that is how the problems arrive, not how they get solved.
Costing and landed-cost models by destination and delivery term. Budgeting for a trade desk. Financial projections and feasibility models. Working capital optimisation — where cash is trapped in the cycle and what shortens it. Trade finance and payment structuring: which instrument fits which counterparty, and how to write letter-of-credit terms a bank will honour.
How consignments actually move, incoming and outgoing. Mapping the flow from enquiry to dispatch to payment, finding where it stalls, and rebuilding the sequence. Consignment scheduling and lead-time discipline. Documentation — the full set, what each party requires, and why discrepancies arise. Procedures written so a second person can run them.
Market analysis for a target corridor — demand, competition and realistic pricing. Feasibility work on a product, corridor or counterparty, tested against the numbers rather than the enthusiasm: we are paid for the assessment, not for the deal, so "do not do this" is a finding we are free to deliver. International sourcing: identifying and qualifying suppliers against a written specification rather than a conversation.
How to start
Each has a fixed scope and a deliverable you keep. Fees are quoted on enquiry against a written scope — we do not publish rates, because a rate without a scope tells you nothing.
| Engagement | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Market Entry Feasibility | Should we open this corridor at all? Market and competitive analysis, sourcing options, financial projections, and a straight answer either way |
| Sourcing Mandate | Find and qualify suppliers to this specification. Identification, qualification, audit against a written spec, and introduction |
| Retained Trade Desk | Ongoing. Continuous access, standing review and scheduled reporting, with the included days agreed in advance |
| Working Capital Review | Why is our cash tied up, and what frees it? Cash-cycle analysis, instrument selection, documentary credit and collection structuring, exposure and cover |
| Landed Cost & Costing Model | What does this actually cost us, delivered? A working model by product, destination and Incoterm, with the assumptions exposed so your team can run it afterwards |
| Trade Desk Review | Where is the trade function losing margin and time, and why do shipments stall? We follow the flow from enquiry to dispatch to payment, locate the failure points, and come back with a rebuilt sequence, the procedures to run it, and a prioritised list of what to fix first. The usual starting point |
Where our work stops
We are not lawyers, not chartered accountants, and not licensed customs brokers acting as agent of record. We will not pretend otherwise, and we will tell you when a question belongs to one of them.
What we do have are working relationships with the people who do those things — counsel, chartered accountants, customs brokers, freight forwarders, testing laboratories, certification bodies and bankers. We know who is competent, we brief them properly, and we translate between them and you. Assembling and managing that panel is part of what you are engaging us for.
How we work
A short description of the problem is enough to establish whether we are the right people for it. If we are not, we will say so and point you at who is.
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